Back to Community
Home / Community / Plugin → Yoast seo

Why Your Yoast SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions Aren't Updating (And How to Fix It)

46 threads Sep 7, 2025 Plugin → Yoast seo

Content

If you've ever updated a title or meta description in the Yoast SEO plugin only to find that your live website stubbornly shows the old version, you're not alone. This is a common and frustrating issue reported by many users. This guide will walk you through the most likely causes and the steps you can take to resolve it.

Understanding the Problem: Why Old Data Persists

When you make a change in the Yoast SEO meta box on a post or page, the plugin processes and stores that data in a special optimized database table for performance. Sometimes, this process can be interrupted by conflicts or caching mechanisms, causing the plugin to serve outdated information even though the correct data is entered in the backend.

Common Solutions to Try

1. Reset the Yoast SEO Indexables

This is the most common and effective solution for this specific problem. The 'indexables' are the optimized data tables Yoast SEO uses. Resetting them forces the plugin to rebuild this data from scratch, which often corrects discrepancies between what you've entered and what is displayed.

  1. Install and activate the free Yoast Test Helper plugin.
  2. Go to Tools > Yoast Test in your WordPress dashboard.
  3. Locate the 'Yoast SEO' section.
  4. Click the 'Reset indexables tables & migrations' button. The page will reload to confirm the reset.
  5. Next, go to Yoast SEO > Tools.
  6. Under the 'SEO data' section, click the 'Start SEO data optimization' button. Let the process complete.

After completing these steps, clear any site or server caches and check your site again. As seen in threads #14 and #18, this process has successfully resolved the issue for many users.

2. Perform a Conflict Check

Sometimes, another plugin or your theme can interfere with how Yoast SEO saves or outputs data. To rule this out, you need to perform a conflict check.

  1. Deactivate all plugins except for Yoast SEO.
  2. Switch your theme to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four.
  3. Check if the problem is resolved. If it is, one of the deactivated components was the cause.
  4. Reactivate your plugins one by one, checking your site after each activation, to identify the conflicting software.

For a safe way to do this without affecting your visitors, consider using the Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin.

3. Clear All Caches

Caching is a prime suspect when changes aren't appearing. You must clear all possible caches:

  • Browser Cache: Do a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5 on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac) or clear your browser's cached data.
  • WordPress Caching Plugin: If you use a plugin like WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or WP Super Cache, clear its cache.
  • Server-Side Cache: Contact your hosting provider to clear any server-level cache (e.g., Varnish, Nginx, or Object Caching).
  • CDN Cache: If you use a Content Delivery Network like Cloudflare, clear its cache.

4. Ensure the Correct Fields Are Filled

Double-check that you are editing the correct field. The primary title tag is controlled by the 'SEO title' field in the Yoast SEO meta box. If this field is empty, the plugin may fall back to your theme's default output or the post title.

When These Steps Don't Work

If you've tried all the steps above and the issue persists, your specific case might be more complex. The problem could be related to how your theme outputs titles (as hinted at in thread #6), a conflict with a specific plugin like Polylang (thread #22), or a bug in a specific version of Yoast SEO (thread #18 was resolved by updating to version 24.8).

For further community assistance, be prepared to provide specific details such as:

  • The URL of a page where the issue occurs.
  • Screenshots of the Yoast SEO meta box for that page.
  • A screenshot of the page's source code (showing the incorrect title tag).
  • A list of your active plugins and your theme name.

By methodically working through these solutions, you can almost always resolve issues with Yoast SEO titles and descriptions not updating on your site.

Related Support Threads Support